Rebels seeking to topple Chad’s government said they wrote to French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy requesting a meeting to discuss the role of French troops in the country.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry said yesterday the ministry had no knowledge of the letter. In a statement issued late on Sunday the rebels said they also wanted an explanation for warning shots fired over a rebel column last week by French warplanes and called for joint measures to avoid clashes between rebels and French troops. “The Chadian resistance has no intention of changing the foreign policy of the country to the detriment of the former colonial power or, more precisely, of breaking the accords signed between France and Chad,” the rebel statement said.

“Nor do they want to harm the interests of French nationals in Chad,” the statement said.

France, has some 1,200 soldiers in Chad, mostly concentrated in a large military base at N'Djamena. The Defence Ministry said last week its aircraft had fired warning shots near a rebel column last Wednesday to signal the presence of French forces.

But a ministry spokesman said French forces had not clashed with the rebels. France, which has a military cooperation accord with Chad, says it has passed on information from its surveillance flights to the Chad authorities and transported some government troops and supplies to the south of the country.